Kurt Steiner
"He reminds me of something that I occasionally pick up on my shoe in the gutter! Very unpleasant, on a hot day. And if you have the dubious honor of commanding this senseless slaughter, then I'd advise you to keep him downwind at all times! That is, of course, if you can tell the difference anymore." "There you are. You see Hans? It's infallible. I can always tell a thorough-going bastard when I see one." "I have no intention of dying now. But if I'm going to, allow me to choose where and how." Oberst Kurt Steiner was a Luftwaffe fallschirmjäger who had served with distinction on the Eastern Front. His second in command and best friend was Hauptmann Ritter von Neustadt, who he always called Hans. Before the war he'd been educated in England and was bilingual, able to speak English without a German accent. While returning from the Russian front, by train, however, his journey was delayed, as the SS were now using the rail line to send the Jews to the death camps. Not wanting sit around, he, Ritter, and most came out to stretch their legs, two MPs arrive to tell him to get back on the train. He reluctantly refused, and noticed the "resistance terrorists" on the other train, and was disgusted by the fact they were just ordinary people, were there was no fighter among them. When a Jewish teenage girl named Anna, tried to escape, the MPs grabbed only for Steiner to punch one, and the other tried to shoot him only fort Steiner to be covered by his men. Steiner, put Anne on a train headed away, and would likely allow her to escape the SS, but she was killed. An aggressive, unforgiving, SS Obergruppenführer, had Steiner arrested, stripped of his rank and medals. Steiner tried to avoid his men getting the same punishment only for Obergruppenfuhrer to delightfully refuse, and had both him and his men shipped off to a penal colony. He would've likely died there, had it not been for Oberst Max Radl from the Abwehr. Radl offered Steiner a chance to regain his commission and his honor if he'd undertake a perilous mission to the town of Studley Constable and abduct or kill Winston Churchill. Steiner, refusing to risk the lives of his men needlessly, put it to a vote, and his men unanimously agreed. They were returned to active duty and Steiner got his medals back. Posing as Polish paratroopers and wearing their fallschirmjäger uniforms underneath their Polish ones so they wouldn't be shot as spies, Steiner's team parachuted into England and came to Studley Constable. Steiner in particular went under the pseudonym of Colonel Miller, posing as a British officer commanding the Poles. The ruse was discovered when one of Steiner's men was killed rescuing a British girl from drowning, uncovering his fallschirmjäger uniform. Realizing the jig was up, Steiner, and his men rounded up the townspeople and put them in the church, however Pamela Vereker, the sister of the village priest Father Vereker managed to escape and warn the nearby Army Ranger detachment commanded by the inexperienced, glory-seeking Colonel Clarence E. Pitts. Against the advice of Captain Harry Clark, Pitts led a disastrous attempt to retake the town without enough men and with no proper reconnaissance. He and several of his men were killed. "The time has come, when I can no longer control events, they control me." The more levelheaded and experienced Clark attempted to persuade Steiner to surrender and give up his mission, but Oberst Steiner refused. While his men held off the Americans, Steiner was able to slip away. Only von Neustadt survived. Alone, Steiner went to the manor where Churchill was staying and confronted him. Realizing he couldn't take the Prime Minister with him, Steiner settled for assassinating him instead and shot Churchill dead on the spot. Just as he did, Clark and several British Army officers came running, and one of them gunned Steiner down. He presumably didn't live to learn that "Churchill" had been a decoy, but he was only wounded and survived. The Eagle has Flown After recovery in a Norfolk RAF hospital, he was then briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London. Special Operations Executive, arrange for Steiner to be relocated to a 'safe house' in a St Mary's Priory in Wapping, where he can be held whilst recuperating from surgery in order to capture other German agents and spies. Learning of Steiner's survival, Himmler summons SS Gen. Walter Schellenberg, the chief of intelligence of the Ausland-SD to a gothic castle. Giving Schellenberg the same authority he'd given Max Radl, Himmler orders him to launch an operation to rescue Steiner. Himmler hopes to present Steiner to Hitler as a propaganda coup for the SS that will greatly embarrass Abwehr chief Wilhelm Canaris, who had originally opposed Steiner's operation. The rescue of Steiner from the priory, meticulously planned, is successful, although they are forced to take Brigadier Dougal Munro along as a hostage. They drive to Shaw Place, but as Asa Vaughan, is making his landing in thick fog, a shootout ensues in which both Carvers and the Shaws are killed. Leaving Munro behind, Vaughan flies Devlin and Steiner to France and make a dangerous landing near the headquarters of Erich Kraemer's detachment, also badly fog-bound. About to present Steiner to Himmler and Hitler at a chateau on the French coast, Schellenberg learns that Himmler is plotting to stage a coup and to assassinate Hitler, Erwin Rommel and Canaris. Deciding that the war will end quicker with Hitler in charge than under Himmler who intends to be his successor, he and Steiner commandeer Kraemer's paratroopers and foil the plot. Himmler makes it clear that the incident must not become public knowledge – in effect, it 'never happened'. Schellenberg opts to remain in Germany, and allows Steiner, Vaughan and Devlin to 'escape'. They fly to Ireland, landing in County Mayo and sinking their airplane. Awards *Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross With Oakleaves And Swords Notes *He is played by Sir Michael Caine. Gallery Kurt Steiner.jpg kurt steiner 2.jpg kurt steiner.jpg Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Steiner, Kurt Category:Deceased Characters